March 5, 2007

Cable’s Best Public Affairs Programming

We present the winners of the 2007 CableWorld-CTPAA Public Affairs Programming Awards.

By Seth Arenstein

National Geographic Channel president Laureen Ong (left) and Discovery Channel president/GM Jane Root have something new in common—their networks are co-winners of the CableWorld-CTPAA Public Affairs Award in the documentaries category.

One of the best parts about the CableWorld-CTPAA Public Affairs Programming Awards competition, now in its fourth year, is that the contest consistently produces surprises. Last year, the first surprise was that Discovery Times Channel, which captured first-place awards in years one and two, did not three-peat. The second surprise was that G4, DIY, OLN (now Versus), WE and Speed—fine networks but not the first you’d associate with public affairs shows—distinguished themselves in our contest.

This year’s story lines include the judges’ decision to award two first-place trophies for documentaries. Hardware will be presented during CTPAA’s Washington Forum on March 12 to a pair of competitors, National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel, who also happen to be crosstown rivals in Washington, D.C. Please note that Nat Geo Channel’s president Laureen Ong and Discovery Channel’s president and GM Jane Root rose above the rivalry to pose together on our cover. The cable trade press—ourselves included—have had less luck getting other rivals to pose together.

The other story this year is the emergence of The Pentagon Channel to the winner’s circle. Besides its first-place finish in PSA Category II, it notched an honorable mention for its special on post-traumatic stress syndrome. This year’s contest also featured the first non-operator, non-programmer winner, Cable Positive.

As in previous years, the judges made their choices based on whether or not an entry clearly presented an important public affairs issue. In addition, the mix of education and entertainment was considered, as were production values. Summaries of winning and honorable mention entries follow.

Documentaries

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Co-Winner:

Global Warming, What You Should Know, with Tom Brokaw, Discovery Channel

The Issue: Global Warming

Summary: With so much controversy surrounding global warming, Discovery Channel successfully avoided extremes and instead presented hard scientific data, relatively free of political inflection. The show’s secondary goal was to inform viewers to a point where they could speak intelligently about the issue, since it’s one that individual citizens can influence. Along that line, the documentary included tips viewers could use to help stem global warming.

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Co-Winner:

The World’s Most Dangerous Gangs, National Geographic Channel

The Issue: The MS-13 gang’s infiltration into 33 U.S. states.

Summary: This Lisa Ling-hosted doc about the ultraviolent MS-13 gang immediately caught the judges’ attention as much of the action occurred near Washington, D.C., not far from our judges’ homes. In addition, the judges were impressed by the scope of the show, which featured jailhouse interviews of gang members. The most poignant interview, perhaps, was with Brenda Paz, an MS-13 member turned police informant. Paz, 17 and pregnant, eventually was murdered by MS-13.

Specials

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Category I Winner:

9/11: A Toxic Legacy, Discovery Times Channel

The Issue: How dust from 9/11 is proving toxic.

Summary: This special is emotional and informative as it documents the ill effects of 9/11 dust on rescue workers and others who live and work in New York City. The special goes further, asking whether the federal government, in its quest to return to business as usual, misled the public by declaring on Sept. 18 that the air was safe to breathe. Five years later, the federal government’s newly appointed 9/11 health czar says 9/11 is becoming the country’s most significant medical event.

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Category II Winner:

Positive Voices, Matthew Cusick, Cable Positive

The Issue: Illegal discrimination against people living with HIV.

Summary: The judges were impressed with the quality of Cable Positive’s first feature film, which tells the story of acrobat Matthew Cusick, who was training with Cirque du Soleil until his employment was abruptly halted before his first performance. Management informed Cusick his HIV positive status made him a health risk to fellow performers and audience members. Medical experts refuted that statement enough to lead Cirque to settle a suit with Cusick out of court.

Honorable Mention:

Vietnam Nurses With Dana Delany, WE

Issue: The role of women nurses in Vietnam.

Summary: This excellent special tells a story that’s been hidden for 40 years, namely the critical part U.S. women played as military nurses in Vietnam. Despite their inexperience and lack of training, the nurses proved their mettle in battlefield operating rooms and hospitals in Saigon. Clearly many of the women retain emotional scars from their service in the first war that put U.S. women on the battlefield.

Honorable Mention:

Man at His Best, Fine Living

Issue: A range of issues from poverty to aiding spinal cord injury research.

Summary: You don’t think of Fine Living when it comes to public affairs shows, but this collaboration with Esquire magazine delivered on its title, profiling the charitable work of celebs and non-celebs. The first group includes actor Denis Leary, whose foundation helps firefighters, and football’s Warrick Dunn, who makes down payments for deserving single-parent families. The most poignant was paralyzed college hockey player Travis Roy, whose foundation aids victims of spinal cord injuries.

Honorable Mention:

After the Flood, St. Bernard’s Parish, Discovery HD Theater

Issue: Recovering after Katrina.

Summary: The media tend to ignore the stories of those beyond New Orleans’ 9th Ward, but St. Bernard’s Parish was the only county in U.S. history totally destroyed by a natural disaster. Just five of 27,000 homes and businesses were left standing after Katrina. The film details the citizens living in FEMA trailers as the town council attempts, without much success, to increase the speed by which FEMA provides funding.

Honorable Mention:

The Wounds Within, The Pentagon Channel

The Issue: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the military.

Summary: The judges were surprised by the openness and emotional nature of The Pentagon Channel’s special on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). They were also impressed by the breadth of the special, which notes that some 7.7 million Americans get PTSD yearly, but most never receive treatment.

Recurring Series

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Winner:

Focus on Underage Drinking & Driving, Cox Communications New England

Issue: Teen drinking and driving.

Summary: This Cox New England special didn’t use a lot of fancy statistics or graphics. Instead, it relied on mothers who’d lost their children to underage drinking to put a human face on the problem. Even more powerful was the young man whose brain was damaged in a drunk-driving accident. His emotional speech to high school students made an immediate impact. The episode was shown during prom time and posted on VOD.

Honorable Mention:

ABC’s of Medicare Part D, Cox Communications New Orleans

Issue: Alerting senior citizens about the new drug prescription plan.

Summary: The judges were impressed that Cox New Orleans realized that the post-Katrina environment made it even more important for senior citizens to understand the new Medicare Drug Plan, known as Part D. While this show wasn’t fancy, it was comprehensive, providing seniors with step-by-step instructions on how to enroll in the program.

Public Service Announcements

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Category I Winner:

Bravo On The Set, Bravo and Time Warner Cable

Issue: Fostering diversity in television production.

Summary: This 30-second PSA had an immediate appeal for the judges. It opens with diverse teens dancing, and Queer Eye’s Jai Rodriguez, saying, "Aren’t these guys great!" We move backstage, where we see everyone’s white, and Rodriguez asks bluntly, "What do you want to tell these kids? If they can’t sing, dance or act they can’t work in television?" He then discusses the On The Set program for diversity. As he says, "Television is better in color."

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Category II Winner:

Retro Reminder, Voting Week, The Pentagon Channel

Issue: Encouraging the military and their families to vote.

Summary: A clever piece of work from The Pentagon Channel, taking the audio and black-and-white video from a cartoon PSA about military absentee voting privileges from television’s early days and enhancing subtly with touches of color, including adding a female into the all-male cartoon. It’s also added website info in the style of the times. An oldie, but a goodie.

Honorable Mention:

Win With Words, GSN

Issue: Improving the language skills of the nation’s youth.

Summary: These snappy, 30-second PSAs took what might have been a dry subject, improving the vocabulary of students, and made it fun, in keeping with GSN’s "the network for games" mantra. Urging students to enter GSN’s National Vocabulary Championship (whose finals, held March 5, will air in a one-hour special on Apr. 15), the PSAs demonstrated the fun of vocabulary by employing words like "fastidious," "endeavor" and "consummate" in its enjoyable and effective pitches.

Honorable Mention:

25 Stories, NY1 News & Cable Positive

Issue: Raising AIDS awareness.

Summary: This series of PSAs is purposely stark and direct. Celebs are filmed in color against a white background and speak simply about the devastation of HIV/AIDS in this 25th year of the disease being discovered. The messages are simple but effective: There is still no cure for HIV/AIDS; learn about the epidemic so you can reduce your chances of infection; and get yourself tested if you are at risk.